manta - a clustering algorithm for weighted ecological networks

Abstract

Microbial network inference and analysis has become a successful approach to generate biological hypotheses from microbial sequencing data. Network clustering is a crucial step in this analysis. Here, we present a novel heuristic flow-based network clustering algorithm, which equals or outperforms existing algorithms on noise-free synthetic data. manta comes with unique strengths such as the ability to identify nodes that represent an intermediate between clusters, to exploit negative edges and to assess the robustness of cluster membership. manta does not require parameter tuning, is straightforward to install and run, and can easily be combined with existing microbial network inference tools.